The invention relates to a method of manufacturing an enveloped multilayer capacitor, in which method a support of an electrically insulating material is alternately provided with dielectric layers and electrode layers, after which successive electrode layers are alternately connected with a first and a second end contact, and an electrically insulating envelope is provided.
The invention particularly relates to the manufacture of multilayer capacitors of small dimensions which can suitably be mechanically mounted on a substrate provided with a conductor pattern (printed wiring, printed circuit board, PCB), thereby forming an electric or electronic circuit, and the invention also particularly relates to such capacitors (surface-mountable capacitor, SMC). These capacitors do not comprise leads. Instead they are provided with electric end contacts in the form of a solderable metal layer. The end contacts of the capacitors can be used to secure said capacitors in the printed circuit board in a simple manner by means of soldering. By virtue of the small dimensions of such capacitors and the absence of leads, a high packing density of the capacitors and other components of similar dimensions on the printed wiring board can be achieved.
Methods of manufacturing multilayer capacitors, in particular ceramic multilayer capacitors, are generally known. The ongoing miniaturization requires ever smaller dimensions of multilayer capacitors in an electric or electronic circuit. In the case of multilayer capacitors for mounting in a printed circuit board, these dimensions are of the order of 1.times.0.5.times.0.5 mm. When such small multilayer capacitors are provided by mechanical means a high dimensional accuracy is very important. The dimensional accuracy of multilayer capacitors manufactured by means of the known method is often insufficient.